May 14, 2009

This past weekend one of my husband’s co-workers passed away. He was in his 50’s, in seemingly good health and fit. It made me think of all the professionals I know that spend 10 or more hours a day, not including their commute, in the prime of their lives (their 30’s) and the youth of their children’s lives, at an office away from their families. Many miss important milestones hoping that some day, all their hard work will pay off and some day they will have time to relax, travel and experience fun. Some day typically means retirement.

I have to ask…… why? At the end of the day, the golden years often aren’t very golden. In fact, if we are lucky enough to make it to retirement, not having been stopped by the two biggest killers in the US heart disease or cancer, we will likely not have the energy or the money to just do what we want. Why wait until our kids have kids to enjoy spending time with a child?

I say work less now, pare down expenses to live on less, take time out for our children now while they are young and developing, take time to travel now while you can enjoy the experience without fear of health issues and fixed incomes weighing on your minds.

I hate to break the bad news but you can’t bank time and experiences to be saved up and used when you are ready for them. You either live now….or you don’t.

April 27, 2009

After a very long absence due to family illnesses, I have returned. I hope to restart this blog and resume my place as a guide to creating a work-life balance now that my own life has settled down. I hope to see my readers back as well.

I do have something to report. During my absence here my family radically altered our lives once again to find that elusive work-life balance. My husband left his stressful, job with long hours as an engineer in the private sector and returned to his first place of employment – a state agency. Three years ago, we were both lulled by the siren song of high pay opportunities and he left his job at the state agency for the private sector. Three years later, he had seen the sun come up at his office more times than either of us care to think about, he worked six days a week and thought about work 24/7. Our lives were unravelling.

We looked around at friends who are also engineers and realized it would be years before he saw any relief, if he ever did. We had to really focus on whether the money was worth him being an absentee father and husband in order to join the ranks of the upper middle class. Our decision….the money wasn’t worth what we were having to give up.

Today my husband is back at the state agency. He will never earn six figures. His job isn’t sexy or glamorous. But he goes to work at 7 am and comes home at 4 pm. Without exception. I have my husband back. Our son has his father back. And the state has a damn fine engineer.

This means we will never be able to move into the tonier part of town…but we like our small home in our modest middle class neighborhood. I will never have granite counter-tops or a pool in my back yard nor will I be able to quit my own job to devote my time to writing…but my question is…why should I be able to pursue my dreams at the expense of someone else, namely the man I love? Everything requires sacrifice, who better for me to sacrifice my dreams for but the man I love and with whom I intend to spend my life? And I still get to write, I just have to juggle it with my job.

So there you are.. I put my money where my mouth is and you know what? Life is sweet.